An obituary by Sam Tomiano:

Writer and artist Mark E. Rogers, 61, best known as the creator of Samurai Cat and writer of the Zorachus novels and The Dead, died on February 2, 2014, of apparent heart failure while hiking with his family in California’s Death Valley.

Mark Earl Rogers was born on April 19, 1952, in South Ambboy, New Jersey, and grew up in nearby Point Pleasant Beach. While still in grammar school he began writing stories and drawing pictures which would become an important part of his life. He graduated from the University of Delaware summa cum laude in 1974, with a Bachelor of Arts degree and was elected to membership in Phi Beta Kappa. In 1979,  his novella “The Runestone” (which combined lycanthropy and Norse myth) was published by Burning Bush Press. It would become a 1991 movie with Peter Riegert and Alexander Godunov. In 1980, the same press published The Bridge of  Catzad-Dûm and Other Stories with the lead story featuring Samurai Cat, a fierce sword-wielding feline he had created in a series of paintings beginning in the previous years. In 1984, Donald M. Grant (and later Tor) published The Adventures of Samurai Cat with more satirical stories spoofing Tolkien, Lovercraft, Robert E. Howard and Norse myth. That would be followed by five more volumes, concluding with Samurai Cat Goes to Hell (1998). In all the volumes, the writing was supplemented by artwork by the author.  Epic Comics published a three-issue mini-series in 1991 with covers by Rogers.

In 1986, Ace Books published his fantasy novel, Zorachus, the story of a good man who falls prey to evil. That was followed by The Nightmare of God (1988), which completed that part of the story. Other books in the Zorachus story were the Blood of the Lamb series (The Expected One (1991), The Devouring Void (1991) and The Riddled Man (1992)), the Zanchartus series (Blood and Pearls (1998), Jagutai and Lilitu (2000) and Night of the Long Knives (2002)) and Lilitu (2010). He also wrote two standalone novels, The Dead (1989), considered a seminal zombie novel and Yark (2010), a spoof of the Lord of the Rings from the point of view of a likable orc.

Mark Rogers is survived by Kate, his wife 38 years, their children Sophia, Jeanette, Patrick and Nicholas, their grandchild Indigo Dahlia Gifford, and his sister Lois.